The Triumph of Katie Byrne

‘Right away,’ he responded and reached for the bag nearby. He knelt closer to Allegra and they lifted and manipulated the body until it was inside the bag, and then Ken zipped it. They both rose at the same time; together they picked up the bag and put it on the stretcher.

Allegra said, ‘Thanks, Ken, I’ll send Cody to help you bring the body out. Afterwards you can dismantle the lights.’

‘I will,’ he said, and began to pack his own medical bag.

Allegra rolled off her latex gloves, balled them and put them in one of her metal cases, which she then picked up. Mac grabbed the other one, and the two of them walked away from the crime scene, hurrying down the path in single file.

Mac said, ‘Not a very good crime scene for us…’

‘I’ve seen better, Mac, but it’s not that bad. The medics didn’t disturb anything, and we’ve been scrupulous.’

‘I know you have. Let’s face it, though, a wood is not the easiest place to find clues to a brutal murder.’

‘True. And the ground is very hard at the moment. There’ll be no footprints. Have you spoken to the brother and sister in the barn?’

‘Yeah, I did, but only briefly. I got here after you did, Allegra. The girl is shell-shocked, yet despite that she’s very precise, clear about things. There’s not much she or her brother can tell us about the attack, since they arrived here after it happened.’

They did not speak for a few seconds, just ploughed on through the wood until they came to the area in front of the barn. It was crowded with cars and police, and they dodged around them, walked over to Allegra’s jeep at a brisk pace.

Mac suddenly said, ‘Katie told me that she caught a flash of something dark when she was leaving this afternoon. It was about ten to five and already dusk. She was going up that hill over there, thought she saw something and stopped, looked over at the clump of rhododendron bushes. She says she wondered what she had almost seen. Then she decided it had to be an animal, a deer most likely, and she didn’t bother to investigate further. But I’ve got one of my men and a state trooper up there now, looking around.’

Allegra stopped, turned to Mac, and frowned as she exclaimed, ‘It’s just as well she didn’t go over to the bushes, because it could have been the perp loitering. And he might well have beaten her up also.’

‘Yes, you’re right about that. I’m hoping that when Carly Smith recovers consciousness she’ll be able to tell us what happened here today, and who it was. She’s an eye witness, our only eye witness, and we’re obviously banking on her.’

Allegra stared at him.

Noticing at once the concern spreading across her face, he asked quickly, ‘What’s wrong?’

The Medical Examiner was silent, then finally she said in a low voice, ‘From what I understand, that poor girl took some terrible blows to the head. I’m praying for her recovery, but those head injuries could prove to be extremely serious.’

‘What are you getting at, Allegra? Are you saying she might die?’ Mac asked, his voice rising.

Allegra hesitated fractionally, then said, ‘No, not that necessarily. But she could be left in a coma.’

‘Oh shit!’

‘Let’s hope for the best, especially for the girl’s sake,’ Allegra murmured, and put her metal case in the back of the jeep.

Chapter Eight (#)

Michael Byrne drove at breakneck speed up Route 7, his foot pressed hard on the accelerator. He was filled with tension and anxiety, and these feelings showed in his taut face and worried eyes, which were intent on the road ahead.

How he regretted now that he had been caught up with a client, going over extensive plans for a house he was currently remodelling. His appointment with Bill Turnbull had become not only involved but interminable. It had dragged on and on, had made him arrive home much later than usual, to be greeted on the back doorstep by Maureen, who had obviously been waiting anxiously for him.

He had known at once that she was distraught, and as she blurted out the story through her tears he had turned ice-cold inside. He could not stand the thought that his daughter might have been at risk, in harm’s way.

The moment Maureen had finished speaking, he had told her to go inside and lock the door. And then he had rushed over to his jeep, shouting over his shoulder that he was going to the barn to get Katie and Niall.

The only thing he could think of, as he had pulled out, was that Katie was safe. Not injured. Not dead. But safe. It was a miracle of sorts. She was always at the barn rehearsing and if she hadn’t left early today, to go home to help her mother, she would more than likely have been a victim too. That did not bear thinking about. An involuntary shudder ran through him.

Now all he wanted was to get to his daughter, to satisfy himself that she was really all right, and to bring her home with him. His Katie. He loved his sons Niall and Finian very much, but Katie was extra special to him, the light of his life, and had been since the day she was born.

In all truth, she reminded him of his sister Cecily who had died of meningitis when he was fifteen and she was only twelve; his young heart had broken with her dying. He had loved and protected that child all through her sweet short life; after her death it would often strike him that perhaps unconsciously he had somehow known she was not long for this world.

Cecily had been a redheaded leggy colt, just as Katie was, although there the physical resemblance between them stopped, since Katie was the spitting image of her mother. But in other ways he saw Cecily in his daughter…the feyness, the gaiety, the openness, and the warm personality. There was very little, if any, guile in Katie, and she had a pureness, an innocence that he had only ever seen in Cecily. And like her long-dead aunt, whom she had never known, Katie truly was a free spirit.

He was thankful Niall was with Katie at the barn; that was a most comforting thought to him. His mind instantly veered to Denise’s family. There would certainly be no comfort for Peter and Lois Matthews, and none for Ted either, who was a widower and childless and adoring of his only niece.

Michael shuddered again at the thought of Denise’s awful fate. He had known her since she was a child, and Carly, too, for that matter, but Carly was alive, thank God. He hoped her injuries were not too severe. Suddenly, thoughts of her mother, Janet, intruded. As a widow all alone she had striven hard to do her very best for Carly, after her husband had died. Barry Smith had been a good friend of his for a number of years, and like everyone he and Maureen had been shocked when Barry had died of lymphatic cancer. He had been far too young for the grave. After his tragic death it had been a struggle, an uphill battle for Janet, and she had been faced with so many difficulties. Maureen had often wondered aloud to him how she managed.

Bad days ahead for those two families, he thought, his mouth grimly set, but he and Maureen would do the best they could to help them through this painful and shocking ordeal. He sighed and his hands gripped the steering wheel that much tighter…burying a child was something he could not imagine, or contemplate. A murdered child, at that…

Michael slowed when he came to the entrance to the dirt road which rolled down the hill to the barn. He eased the car in gently and found his way instantly blocked by a state trooper’s patrol car.

As he opened his window another state trooper suddenly appeared as if from nowhere, and was already peering in at him.

‘Can I help you, sir?’

‘I have to pass through here, trooper.’

‘Sorry, sir, but you cannot. Not tonight.’

‘But I must. My two kids are down there at the barn. They were the ones who discovered the bodies of their friends, Denise Matthews and Carly Smith.’

‘What’s your name, sir?’

‘Michael Byrne. I live in Malvern.’ Michael pulled out his driver’s licence and showed it to him.

Once the state trooper had scanned it and was seemingly satisfied, he nodded. ‘It’s okay, you can go on down to the barn. Ask for the detective in charge, Lieutenant MacDonald.’

‘As in Mac the Knife?’ Michael asked, a dark brow lifting.

The state trooper grinned at him. ‘So you know the lieutenant, do you?’

‘I sure do. I went to school with him.’

As he drove slowly down the hill, Michael immediately became aware of the activity below him in front of the barn. There were five patrol cars, along with several unmarked vans, and a number of men both in and out of uniform.

He recognized at once that this was a major crime scene, and he felt cold chills running down his back because his children were involved, however inadvertently. But naturally it was a big deal if Mac MacDonald was here. His old pal was in charge of the Connecticut State Police Major Crime Unit in the Litchfield area, and known to be one hell of a tough cop. They hadn’t seen each other lately, not for several years in fact, but he had read about Mac in the local newspapers, and noted his climb to success and fame in law enforcement. Michael was relieved to know that Mac was in charge, because the investigation would be handled with great skill and professionalism.

After he parked, Michael got out of the jeep and slammed the door. He could see Mac a few yards away, talking to a good-looking blonde who was leaning against a Cherokee. When Mac happened to glance across and spotted him, Michael raised a hand in greeting, then walked around the front of his jeep.

A moment later the two of them were shaking hands and slapping each other on the back. Once they had pulled away from each other Michael said, ‘My kids are here, Mac. I’ve come to get them.’

‘They’re fine, Mike, and they’re ready to leave. They’ve been giving their statements in the barn.’

‘What’s taken so long?’ Mike asked, frowning, staring into Mac’s cool silver eyes, lots of questions reflected in his own.